Do you still give to charity?

97trophy

I am still donating at the same rate.

Old_Slaphead

Have recently increased longstanding monthly DDs to both Parkinsons & MacMillan. Both extremely worthwhile causes.

FWIW some unfortunates also get 3 pints of my blood each year too - one day I may need some of it back.

There's a shortage of donors out there so some of yoos nice people go and donate - it doesn't hurt (much!)

BlondeHeadOn

I donate by DD, Cancer Research, Oxfam, the local hospice, RSPB, and a brain injury hospital, and poppy appeal. No plans to stop... yet!

What I have stopped though is sponsoring people. I am so fed up of those bl@@dy sponsor forms coming round, and even worse those 'click here to donate online' ones. For some reason I never trust that the money will actually get to where it's supposed to, and I hate the emotional blackmail element of it.

I don't care whether someone hops round a sports stadium 3 times for some strange charity I've never heard of - good for them if they want to do it, but leave me out of it please!

The very thought is making me grumpy - is it time to finish work for the week do you think?

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

uzubairu

I give £10 per month to Save the Children through Give As You Earn (via payroll). It comes out of my pay before I receive it, so I am used to not having it.
I also have 3 direct debits for NSPCC, Age Concern and Willow Wood Hospice (local hospice).

My employer is also very supportive in raising money for the local hospice and we helped them to raise tens of thousands of £s last year, and hope to do the same this year.

I have never considered cancelling any of them and even in the current climate, the thought hasn't entered my head.
Things would have to get really bad for us before giving became an issue.

Lakelady_2

We give by DD and I volunteer a few hours per week. The local big issue seller always approches me when she`s having a tough day as I`ll give her a couple of quid - I never take the magazine though.

Dan:_4

Im vice chairman of the local British Legion Social Club and give generously for the annual Poppy Appeal. I have no DDs set up, but quite often dump my change into a charity pot when out shopping.

lostinrates

Am I the only person to admit our giving has decreased?

I used to give quite few hours per week of my time to a few diffeent charities, and the odd lunch/supper/ event which I was happy to put some of my few skills towards. When petrol skyrocketed the travelling some of this entailed started to become less feasable. I also have found that I just plain get tired with the occasional half day/day I used to put in a London H/o of a charity. I have only two direct debits, one of which I renewed this week.

Hoever, to counter my selfishness, DHs choice of where to work was in part influenced by the amount of time he can donatein pro bono work. As well as a few things of his own he has become involved in some of his employers' schools and education programmes, and somewhat to his surprise really enjoys this.

ETA; I have been looking for something more local to get more involved with but really haven't found anything that takes my fancy and is 'well organised' but in need of help. I'm also looking at a different area of volunteering, out side my comfort zone a bit.

vivatifosi

I've reduced my giving too lostinrates as my business's income has fallen I can't afford as much as I used to. However as a previous poster said we still sponsor a child overseas and see this as a long term commitment. I once heard that there were six times as many poor children in the world as ones with a good standard of living, so one of the few targets I have in life is to sponsor six kids through school before I die, one at a time so you can give them the commitment they need. If I die before achieving this it will be in my will.

Davesnave

Yes, we still give money, support and donate stuff, but it isn't very organised, so there's been a lot in the last week and there may be nothing for a month. Our main interest is a local charity that works direct with villages in Africa, particularly on self-help food growing schemes. LDCs are going to be particularly badly hit by the global recession IMHO.

epz_2

I volunteered to help out a charity (technical back office bit) when i was out of work a few years back, i very quickly became aware that most of the staffs agenda was to protect their interests not the people they wanted to help.

I am not really an idealist but being there left a bad taste in my mouth, I mean !!!!!! does some guy in africa looking to get a water source dug really care about how close his personal infomation complies with the data protection act, let alone puting in an audit trail.

in answere to the question, no i dont give